Machine for cutting wafers or the like.



No. 724,578. y y PATBNTED APR. 7,1903.

H.- HLHUNGERPORD.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING WAFERS 0R THB'LIKB.'

APPLIUATION FILED 1,107.7, 1901. v lo MODEL. f vz SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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No., 7,2.4,5'78.\ Y PATENTED APR. 7, 1903..

i H. HIIUNGERFORD.

. MACHINE POR CUTTING WAPERS 0R THE LIKE.

' APPLIoATIoN rI-LBDVNov. 7, 19o1'. v Y so MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET z.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICR.

HENRY I-I. I-IUNGERFORD, orL OHIOAGO, ILLINOIS, As'sIGNOR To FRANKPETERS, OFOHIOAGO, ILLINOIS.

MACHINE FR CUTTING WAFERS OR THE LIKE- SPECIFICATION 'forming part ofLetters Patent No. 724,5f`s, dated April f7, 190s.

Y Application led November 7, 1 901. Serial No. 815389'. (No model.)

principal Object of the machine being to cut and divide the sheet ofmaterial operated upon into a number of strips or forms of predeterminedsize.

In the manufacture of manyikinds of bak! ery products, and notably thosevarieties of a delicate and more 'or less brittle texture,4

such as sugar-wafers and the like, the sheet or sheets constituting thebod;7 of the wafer or cracker is cut to form the individual wafers.Hitherto, so far as I am aware, this has usually been done by hand. Thismethod has, however, proved unreliable, for the reason that owing to theexceedingly delicate and brittle texture of the product the cuts wouldnot always be ,clean nor in equidistant and uniform lines, and thisobviously is objectionable. My present invention,'therefore,

is the result of a search to nd a reliable mechanism for quickly,accurately, cheaply, and neatly cutting these sheets or Vstrips ofwafers and like goods into the desired strips or forms without any wasteof the goods resulting from their breakage in the process of separationand by a simple hand-manipulated apparatus.

To this end the essential and distinguishing characteristics of myinvention reside in a grooved table or base-plate having a supericialarea sufficient to receive .and support the sheet or sheet-s to bedivided Vand a rotatable shaft carrying a series of suitably-spacedrotary cutters thereon supported at a suitable height above said tableor base-plate and adapted to be reciprocated thereover in a directiontransversely of the shaft and means for eecting the rotation of theshaftand its cutters simultaneously with its laterally-repreferredembodiment of my invention ,is illustrated in the drawings accompanyingthis application, in which- Figure 1 is a top plan view of a machine inwhich my present improvements are incorporated. Fig. 2 isa sideelevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a detail in vertical transverse section,illustrating the cooperation of the saws or cutters with the grooves ofthe bed-plate. Fig. 4 is a detail illustrating a modification of themeans for moving the cutter-shaft and cutters, and Fig. 5 isa plan viewof a typical sheet of wafers or like material to be operated upon by themachine.

In carrying out my invention I provide a suitable base-plate l5,preferably of the rectangular form shown and of a size sulcient tosupport thereon the operating parts of the machine and the sheet orsheets of material operated upon. The bed-plate is provided on its upperface with a series of parallel grooves 6, extending, preferably,entirely across the same in -one direction thereof. At each corner ofthe bed-plate is located a hollow standard 7, provided with a set-screw8, tapping the same laterally. A pair of rackbars 9, supported at theiropposite ends in blocks 10exteud above and between the two standards ateach side of the bed-plate, respectively. Each block lO is provided witha depending stem 1l of a length and dianteter sufcient to enable it toslide freely with- Yin its containing standard 7, it being adjustabletherein to any desired height within the limit of its length by means ofthe set-screw 8. On each of the rack-bars 9 is mounted'a bearing-blockl2, this latter having a sliding iit on the rack-bar, and the two blockscontaining journal-bearings 13, which receive 17, spaced at intervalscorresponding to the intervals between the grooves 6 of the baseplateand disposed at such a height as to 5o ciprocating travel. cause theperiphery of the cutters in their Ioo lowermost position to enter thegrooves, as plainly shown in Fig. 3. The cutters 17 may be secured faston the shaft 15 in any suitable or desired manner, so as to partake ofthe rotation thereof. The bearing-blocks 12 have secured thereon a pairof upstanding handles 18, which are designed to be gripped by the handsof the attendant in operating the machine, as hereinafter moreparticularly described. It will be evident that as an equivalent meansfor moving the shaft and cutters across the bed-plate a crank 18' mightbe applied to the end 14 of the shaft 15, as shown in the modificationillustrated in FigA.

The upper face of the base-plate has preferably secured thereon alongits front and rear margins and between the several grooves 6 therein twoseries of stops l9,these latter being preferably simply screwed to thebase-plate, as shown at 20, and at their inner ends provided withoverhanging and inwardlyeX- tending flanges or lips 19 for the purposeof vertically confining the abutting edge of the material operated upon.

The operation of the machine in cutting a sheet or series of sheets ofwafers or the like will be readily seen from the foregoing description,but may be briey set forth as follows: The parts of the machine being inthe positions indicated in Fig. 1, the material operated upon, 21, suchas is indicated in Fig. 5, is laid flat upon the base-plate and with oneedge abutting the series of stops 19, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. Thesheet of material having been properly positioned, the attendant graspsthe handles 1S and draws the bearingblocks 12 and their containedmechanism toward himself across the entire width of the base-plate oruntil the bearing-blocks abut the stationary blocks 10 at the right orinner side of the base-plate. This bodily travel of the shaft 15 acrossthe base-plate through the rack-and-pinion mechanism described producesat the same time an axial rotation of the shaft and the cutters carriedthereby, which rotation of the cutters is effective to cut and separatethe sheet of material operated upon into a series of longitudinalstrips. In case it should be desired to then cut these stripstransversely they may be subsequently subjected to the action of anothercuttingmachine precisely similar to that already described, exceptingthat the grooves of its base-plate and its rotary cutters will be spacedat intervals corresponding to the desired dimensions. The next sheet orstack of sheets will be laid in place on the base-plate, with itsright-hand edge abutting the right-hand series of stops as the machineis positioned in Figs. 1 and 2, and the cutting of this sheet will beeifected by the operator by returning the shaft 15 and its cuttersthrough a pushing movement to the position shown in the drawings. Inthis way each successive travel of the cutter-shaft across thebase-plate may be made effective to cut a strip of material, in whichoperation the two series of stops on opposite sides of the base plateare alternately brought into use.

Where a crank, such as 18, is employed to move the shaft and cutters,these movements will be effected in an obvious manner by turning thecrank in one direction or the other, according to the desired directionof travel of the shaft.

The provision of the grooves 6 in the bedplate receiving the teeth ofthe saws in the lowermost arc of their travel insures the completecutting through of the material operated upon and the correspondinglycomplete separation of the strips into which it is divided by the actionof the machine. At the same time the sheet of material subjected to theaction of the saws is firmly supported by the base-plate at all pointsexcept along th intended lines of separation.

It will be obvious that my invention in its useful applications is notlimited to its operation upon bakery products such as I have described,although it has been designed more especially for application to thelatter and will undoubtedly find its chief utility in connectiontherewith. It might, however, be usefully employed in the cutting ofother brittle substances. It is also obvious that a stack of sheets maybe operated upon at one time or filled sheets, such as are known assugar-wafers, and it is also apparent that when the sheet is dividedinto strips, as before mentioned, the strips thus produced may besuperposed one upon the other and the entire stack c ut transversely atone operation. It will also be obvious that the specific details of themachine hereinabove described might be considerably varied Withoutdeparting from the principle and spirit of the invention. I do not,therefore, limit` myself in the mechanical embodiment of my invention tothe specific details of construction and arrangement of parts hereinshown and described except in so far as they may be made the subject ofspecific claims.

I claim- 1. In a machine for cutting wafers and the like, from sheets ofmaterial employed in the manufacture thereof, the combination with agrooved support for the sheets, of a cuttershaft mounted transverselyabove said support, and a series of cutters carried thereby, theperipheries of which enter said grooves, means for imparting a bodilymovement of said shaft and its cutters across such support, and gearingfor imparting to said cutters simultaneously with their bodily movementa positive rotation the peripheral speed of which is greater than thespeed of travel of the shaft, whereby to produce a draw cut ofthecutters in the grooves, substantially as described.

2. In a machine of the character described the combination with abase-plate having a series of parallel grooves, means for holding sheetsof material in position upon the baseplate over said grooves, rack-barsarranged parallel with said grooves, and a cutter-shaft IOS IIO

having pinions engaged with the rack-bar, a thereby producing a drav'sTciit of the cutters series of cutters carried by the shaft and hav-Within the grooves substantially as described; ing their peripheriesentering said grooves, means for causing the travel of the cutter? HENRYH' HUNGERFORD' shaft and cutters across the base-plate, the Witnesses:

peripheral speed of the cutters being greater SAMUEL N. POND,

than the speed of travel of the cutter-shaft, l VINCENT J. WALSH.

